Accountability and Single-Sex Schooling: A Collision of Reform Agendas

This ethnographic study documents how accountability measures skewed the implementation of gender equity reform at one California public middle school serving low-income students of color. In creating single-sex classes throughout the school, the Single Sex Academy (SSA) became the largest public experiment with single-sex schooling in the country, but pressure to raise its standardized test scores diverted the school away from the exploration and implementation of the gender reform. The chronicle of SSA is particularly relevant in light of (a) a recent call to relax Title IX standards and increase the numbers of public single-sex classes and schools, and (b) the provision of monies mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 for single-sex classes and schools, along with the act\u27s imposition of accountability standards and testing

Time-course of health-related adaptations in response to combined training in hypertensive elderly: immune and autonomic modulation interactions

Abstract Aims: This article is a methodological description of a randomized clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov U1111-1181-4455) aiming to evaluate the time-course (monthly) and associations between blood pressure changes and other health-related adaptations in response to exercise training in hypertensive elderly. Methods: The patients will be randomized to a control or combined training group interventions (aerobic and resistance exercise), with monthly assessments in four months. Although, the changes in baseline blood pressure is the primary clinical outcome, the secondary outcomes include: body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, arterial stiffness, baroreceptor sensitivity, cardiovascular autonomic modulation, inflammatory markers, oxidative stress, growth factors, tissue remodeling markers, metabolic profile, renal function, cognitive function and quality of life. Results: To support the understanding of the blood pressure changes in hypertensive elderly, a time-course of exercise-induced adaptations including cardiovascular and immunological adaptations are fundamental for research in this field. Conclusion: To investigate the time-course of combined training-induced adaptations including all the diverse aspects of health in hypertensive elderly a well-controlled protocol design is necessary, mainly to clarify the relationship between cardiovascular and immunological exercise-induced adaptations